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The statistics also showed that the two-child cap has hit 73,530 households, with single-parent households accounting for nearly 40 per cent of these.

SNP MP Alison Thewliss, who has led the campaign against the rape clause, said the figures were abhorrent.

She added: “We now finally see the full extent of the Tories’ punitive two-child cap, which has not only taken away vital support from families with multiple children but forces survivors of rape to have to endure the trauma of disclosing this just to put food on the table.”

When pressed on the scandal by the SNP’s social justice spokesman Neil Gray in the Commons, Tory minister Kit Malthouse replied that people on welfare need to “make decisions about the number of children they may or may not have”.

SNP MP Alison Thewliss has led the campaign against the 'rape clause' and said the figures were abhorrent (Image: PA)

Thewliss said that “staggering” response was a “declaration that people in receipt of vital financial support shouldn’t have more than two children”.

She added: “This is an extremely dangerous comment to make, given that concerns have already been raised that the cap is pushing women into having abortions for fear that they will not be able to make ends meet.”

At Holyrood, Nicola Sturgeon said: “This chamber has debated the rape clause on several occasions in the past and, although it has always been really moving and many people have been very distressed by those discussions, it has always, I guess, debated it in the abstract.

Our story on Esther McVey's defence of the controversial policy (Image: Daily Record)